The aim of this journal is to enhance the knowledge and the know-how required for responsible action in the global economy of the 21st century. This economy is likely to induce and experience transformations that we currently can hardly imagine. It will be characterized by complex networks combining local, national and global linkages, and by surprising interactions between the economy and its political, social and biophysical environments.

In view of these new possibilities, the journal wants to preserve the insights developed since the days of Adam Smith in modes of analysis based on the conceptual device of representative agents. But it will emphasize the opportunities provided by newer approaches to dynamic social networks, where actions are attributed to heterogeneous agents ranging from physical persons to multinational organizations, and where rationality has many more aspects than classical logical coherence. In this perspective, multi-agent modeling of complex economic networks will be an important focus of the journal.

The editorial policy of Complexity Economics will consciously travel between the Scylla of orthodoxy and the Charybdis of sectarianism. A spirit of respectful controversy among scholars with different views will be cultivated as a major asset of the journal.

A defining feature of the journal will be the combination of ambitious theoretical work with case studies, review and perspective papers, and scenarios that shall help theoreticians to stay in touch with practical problems while supporting reflective practitioners in their daily efforts.